A Frozen Supervillain
by quicksilversquared
Summary: Snowstorms can be a pain. Roads get slippery and impassable, power lines get knocked down, and houses get cold as freezing, howling winds wind around them. Still, they can be fun, too, when friends are around. In which karma (or a winter storm) deals out punishment to some, and rewards to others.


A light snow had just started falling when Gabriel headed up to his lair, partly in anticipation of angry drivers sliding on the slick roads and disgruntled pedestrians trying to walk home in the snow, and partly to get out of earshot of the infernal giggling coming from Adrien and his friends as they worked on a school project in the dining room.

"But Master, the brooch hasn't activated," Nooroo protested as the elevator moved down, over, and then went up, up, up, ascending into the lair with a smooth mechanical _whirr_. "We'll just be waiting."

"That's fine. There should be a proper candidate soon enough. This weather draws ire out." The floor above opened up, and they ascended the last short bit and then came to a stop. Gabriel stepped off of the elevator at once, dusting a small bit of invisible lint off of his shoulder as he did. "And if I'm already up here, then I'll be able to respond right away. I won't have to worry about Adrien sticking his head into the office when I need to get up here."

Adrien, or _any_ of his little friends. That Ladyblogger was _far_ more nosy than Gabriel was comfortable with and to be honest he would rather not have her in his home at _all_, but it was _really_ hard to come up with a reason for saying no to having Adrien's friends over when it was for a school project, not without sounding like an insane person.

Nooroo said nothing. Gabriel chose to ignore him, turning to impatiently face the window. It was open a crack, but only the dimmest of light crept in.

The dimmest of light, and a light sprinkling of snow, along with a chilly breeze. The heaters that Gabriel had had installed along the edges of the space cranked up, keeping him plenty warm as he waited. The light from outside dimmed further as the storm worsened, and his baseboard lights clicked on, illuminating the lair in an eerie glow.

Gabriel was ready to go. The question was- how long would it be before a decent candidate showed up?

* * *

Groupwork had rarely been so much fun. The four of them worked well as a team, being fairly productive with their time but also having fun while completing the project. Adrien grinned as he added another sentence to their slideshow, unable to resist the urge to laugh at the subtle pun that Marinette had managed to work in.

"We are _not_ punning in a research project!" Alya protested over the sound of the others laughing. "Come _on_ guys, there _has_ to be some way to say that differently. People won't know if we're being serious or joking around with that in there."

"It'll probably go over most people's heads unless we emphasize it," Nino pointed out reasonably. "But _we'll_ know that it's there. Besides, I don't think that you'll be able to persuade these two jokers to drop it now."

Alya just groaned.

"Oh, look at the snow," Marinette interrupted suddenly, sounding worried. "It's really coming down, isn't it?"

Adrien whipped around to look at the window and sure enough, it was _really_ white outside. Like, can't-see-more-than-a-meter white. _Dangerously_ white.

"There's no way that my parents will want to drive in that," Nino commented, frowning as he peered out the window. "Absolutely no _way._ It would be dangerous."

"Maybe it'll let up?" Alya suggested, hopping up to look out at the wall of white. "I mean, the roads will still be awful, but it's not like they'll have to drive far?"

Adrien made a face at that as he pulled up the weather on his phone. It would _still_ be dangerous to go out driving right after a blizzard like this ended, since the snowplows wouldn't have had a chance to get out, but maybe it would only be like this for a short while.

Those hopes were immediately dashed, though, as the page loaded and Adrien could see just how long it was meant to snow. His frown deepened as he scrolled down the page, looking at the hour-by-hour forecast. "It's supposed to keep snowing for a couple hours. There's been a warning out, but we apparently just missed seeing it."

"Probably because we haven't been looking at our phones." Marinette was looking at her own phone, a frown on her face. "Maman and Papa only just texted me ten minutes ago. They said that everyone is off the roads now. The alert went out early enough that not many people were trapped."

They all jumped as the front door opened and the Gorilla came in, covered in snow. He saw them staring and shook his head.

He might not have said anything, but the meaning was clear: he wasn't going to be driving anyone home tonight.

"Wait, why was he out?" Nino wanted to know as the Gorilla headed out of sight. "He would have been watching the forecast, right?"

"And Nathalie would have, too," Adrien said as realization hit him. "He was probably escorting her home. She lives close by, so they probably walked, but I bet that he wanted to make sure that she was visible in the snow."

Alya frowned. "If they were watching the forecast, why didn't they warn us? If we could have made it home _before_ the storm hit…"

Adrien shrugged. Who knew, really. Maybe Nathalie had assumed that their parents were on the way, or that the storm wouldn't get _quite_ so bad so quickly, or maybe she had forgotten that the four of them were there at all- which was entirely a possibility, if she had closed the door to the office and been focused on emails or papers or something. "I don't know. But I _do_ know that we're meant to have dinner served soon," he added, glancing at the clock. "I'll run down to the kitchen and check to make sure that our chef is still here and we haven't been left to fend for ourselves."

The chef was, in fact, still there. He pointed to a large pot of macaroni and cheese heating on the stove and the loaf of garlic bread in the oven. There would be a salad as well, and as soon as that was ready it would all be brought up, with a light fruit salad with cream for dessert.

"If we could have it in serving bowls instead of individual portions, that would be great," Adrien told him. He had seen how much Nino could put away, so it was good that their chef had made plenty. "We can serve ourselves."

"Of course."

Adrien headed back upstairs, checking his phone with a frown as he did. The forecast hadn't changed at all since he had last checked- not that he had _thought_ that it would, really- and the snow wouldn't stop until late. That meant that his friends were stuck here for the night, since their parents couldn't pick them up and the Gorilla wasn't going to drive them home. That wasn't a _bad_ thing- Adrien had never been to a sleepover before, so it would be fun to experience that- but with Nathalie gone, Adrien wasn't _entirely_ sure where the extra blankets and pillows were stashed. There were ones in the guest room, of course, but the chef and the Gorilla would probably take up those beds.

….maybe the Gorilla could point him to the closet of blankets and pillows? They had to have one _somewhere_, right?

"Food is nearly done," Adrien reported as he re-entered the dining room. "It'll be up soon, so maybe we want to finish up for now?"

"And continue after dinner, maybe?" Alya suggested. "Or we could play some games, but as long as we're here, we might as well get as much done as we can. It was hard enough to get _this_ meeting set up."

Adrien winced. That had been largely his fault, and he knew it. Between photoshoots, akuma attacks, and all of his assorted lessons and activities, it was hard to find an extended period of time to get together. "That sounds like a good idea. We're most of the way done anyway, aren't we?"

Alya nodded. "Just a few more things to add, and then we have to polish it up."

Adrien opened his mouth to respond, then paused and frowned when the lights flickered and went out. Seconds later, though, they came back on as a low rumble started up from the basement.

"Power's out," he realized. "That's our generator going now. I'm going to go close the storm windows in my room," he added. "Normally I don't bother to close all of them because our heaters are really good, but I don't want to overwork the generator."

"Wait, you keep windows open during the _winter?_" he heard Nino ask as he trotted out of the dining room "_Dude?_"

"He said _storm_ windows, Nino," Marinette's exasperated voice explained. "The outer windows that people have so that not so much heat escapes during the winter. Not the regular windows."

"Oh, that's a good idea. Dude's room is, like, eighty percent windows."

"It's a good thing you have that generator," Plagg commented as Adrien hurried towards his room. "It gets used a lot, doesn't it?"

Adrien frowned. He didn't _think_ it was, but maybe he just didn't notice. "Does it?"

"During akuma attacks, yeah. Power lines get interrupted pretty often." Plagg yawned. "I guess you wouldn't notice if you aren't here when the power flickers."

"I'm surprised that you _do_ notice. I thought that you only noticed cheese." Adrien trotted into his room and headed for the hidden switchboard for his window. He only had two storm windows open, it turned out, for the two windows that he used most often as Chat Noir. There was a window open in the bathroom, too, and he got that closed. The storm window descended from a hidden compartment above the window, sliding down until it clicked into place.

Hopefully there wouldn't be any akuma attacks overnight. Having to take the time to open the storm windows would just slow his exit, and having all three of his friends there meant that it would be _really_ likely for people to notice if he vanished.

Also, he _really_ didn't want to go outside right now. Fighting in this weather would _suck_. Rooftops would be slippery, visibility would be awful, and the gusts of wind would throw off his leaps and attacks.

Room ready, Adrien headed back down to the dining room. The chef had already been by, apparently, because four places were set up at the table and trivet mats were set out in anticipation of the serving dishes. Marinette and Alya were putting away the last of their books for their project while Nino got their computers plugged in and charging out of the way in a corner of the dining room.

"I'm glad that your chef didn't go for anything super fancy," he told Adrien, grinning. "I was worried that we would get, like, some highbrow dish that I couldn't even pronounce, and then he came up and told us that it's macaroni and cheese. I _love_ macaroni and cheese. My mom makes this version of it that has potatoes in with the pasta, and it's _amazing_."

Adrien shook his head with a laugh. "You and your potatoes, dude. But nah, he's good with doing regular dishes. _Really_ good versions of regular dishes, sure, but I was a picky enough eater as a kid that he knows not to make anything fancy unless my father requests it specifically."

The chef entered the room again, pushing a cart in front of him. He unloaded it, setting the large bowl of macaroni out first, and then adding the garlic bread, lettuce salad, and then the four servings of fruit salad. "Food is ready!"

"This looks delicious," Adrien was sure to tell him. "Thank you!"

"Leftovers can be left on the table, and I'll come up in an hour or so to clean," the chef told him. "Enjoy!"

They tucked in eagerly. Adrien was glad that the chef had made so much, because as it turned out, _all_ of his friends had large appetites. He briefly wondered if perhaps his father would join them, but judging by the light spilling out under the door of his father's office, he had decided to take his meal in there by himself.

Adrien… was not disappointed, honestly. If his father had joined them in the dining room, it would have made the entire atmosphere of the room tense and stifled. Without him there, his friends were free to joke and laugh as much as they wanted.

And they wanted to joke and laugh a _lot_. The meal was definitely one of the best ones Adrien had ever had, just because of the company.

When they were nearly through with the meal, the generator spluttered. They all looked up in unison, just in time for it to stop. The power went out with a click, plunging them all into the dark.

"Uh-oh," Alya said nervously. "Uh, Adrien, I don't suppose that you have a _backup_ for your backup generator?"

"No," Adrien said, frowning in the direction of the now-silent generator. "No, I don't think we do."

* * *

There weren't any potential akuma victims. _How were there no potential akuma victims?_

Gabriel scowled as he stood in the middle of his lair. This was absolutely _ridiculous_. The roads had to be a mess, he was sure of it. And the power was clearly out for their area, if the flickering lights earlier was anything to go by. How was _no one_ upset enough about any of that to be akumatizeable?

It was _insanity_.

Nooroo was huddled near the baseboard heaters, staying warm enough that he would be able to transform in case a target ever showed up. Gabriel was starting to wonder if it wouldn't be a good idea for him to do the same. After all, despite the work that he had had done on the dome, it was still metal and didn't have the best insulation in the world. All of the space between the outer roof and the inner wall had been filled with his missiles and machinery, which held very little heat.

At least he had the backup generator. Their electricity would keep running for the whole night, keeping them warm enough to not be _entirely_ uncomfortable and making sure Gabriel wouldn't get trapped up in the lair.

The thought had only _just_ passed through his head when the lights flickered and died, leaving Gabriel in total darkness. Below, the faint hum of the generator had stopped.

"Master, I think the generator died," Nooroo commented, as though that weren't _completely and utterly obvious_.

"I _see_ that," Gabriel snapped, already irritated. "I'm sure that Nathalie will deal with it quickly. I don't know how it died, though. We keep it fueled up."

"But power has gone out during akuma attacks," Nooroo pointed out. "So it's not like it _never_ gets used."

Gabriel's expression and stomach dropped as he realized that Nooroo was right. Their generator got routine maintenance once a year, after winter was over. It got refueled after being used overnight during winter storms. But short outages- like what would happen during akuma attacks- never prompted any work with the generator. It was too much fiddling to warrant a small top-up every single time.

But even short uses added up, when they were as frequent as they had been.

"I'll text Nathalie," Gabriel decided, pulling out his phone. It was running low on battery, which was frustrating, but it had enough juice to exchange a few texts. "She can find more fuel and fill the machine back up. We might not have much, but _surely_ there's enough gas in the garage to run the generator for half an hour or something. If I can get back downstairs, that'll be good enough." He would have to drop the idea of akumatizing someone that night, but that was fine. In the future, he would be more prepared.

Text sent, Gabriel paced back and forth to stay warm. Now that the electricity was off and the baseboard heaters were off, the lair was fast becoming chilly.

It was strange that Nathalie hadn't responded yet. Normally when she was at work, she responded to his text within minutes.

….._if_ she was at work. Surely she hadn't left yet, not with Adrien's friends still there? Unless she was escorting the teens home, in which case…

Well, conditions on the road would be slow-going, he could tell that much from the limited view that he got from inside the lair. _How_ slow-going he wasn't sure- his view wasn't _that_ good- but surely she would check her phone as soon as she got back to the house.

So he waited.

"Nooroo, go check the office," Gabriel ordered after ten minutes had passed with no response and no sign of the generator getting restarted. "See if Nathalie is there. If she's returning Adrien's friends to their houses, her coat will be gone but her purse will still be there. Just wait for her return."

"Of course, Master."

A quiet _pop_ told Gabriel that he was alone. He was shivering now, the last lingering heat in the lair leaving quickly. He continued pacing, doing his best to stay warm. As he paced, he tried not to think about worst-case scenarios.

If Nathalie was downstairs, she would have already dealt with the problem. So she was either in the car… or already gone home.

But surely she wouldn't have gone home with him still upstairs? She normally at least waited for him to return to the office. Gabriel's pacing picked up.

Something had to give. Nathalie would come back, or the Gorilla would fill the generator as soon as he returned. Maybe the electrical company would do an emergency run to get the power up again.

Hopefully it would happen soon.

* * *

(Two blocks away, Nathalie was asleep in bed. She had been working hard, after all, and there was no shame in taking advantage of an early night, as mandated by the weather.

The next morning, she would wake up to thirty-seven texts from Mr. Agreste, all progressively more panicked before cutting off completely, and the feeling of rest from her full night of sleep would flee completely as she scrambled to reply and head back over to the mansion.

After all, it simply wouldn't do to tick off Mr. Agreste by ignoring him. If she wasn't fired already, she would have to act quickly to save her job.)

* * *

It didn't take the Gorilla long to appear in the dining room with flashlights. He handed them out to each of the teens, looking somber.

Apparently the generator had run out of gas, and they didn't have any extra in the house. And, naturally, it was impossible to go out and _get_ more. They would have to do without power for the night.

"Well, I guess we're not going to do any more work on the project," Alya said, looking excited. "We can find board games or something to do!"

Adrien winced. "I'm not sure if I _have_ board games."

"_Dude_."

"Well, our computers _do_ all have good batteries on them," Marinette pointed out reasonably. "We _could_ finish our project, but just use one computer instead of several. And then we could use a different computer to play a movie or something. They'll all be out of battery by the time we go to bed, but…"

"Let's do that," Adrien agreed. There probably _were _board games somewhere in the house, but he didn't want to look. Not in the dark. There were too many places to get lost, and Adrien didn't want his father to stumble across them and get mad about them being somewhere where they weren't meant to be. Besides, there were areas of the mansion that looked absolutely creepy in the dark. "Get our project finished, and then we can goof off and not feel bad about it."

"When did the two of you get so weirdly responsible?" Despite his words, Nino didn't sound _too_ upset as he set up his flashlight next to his plate so that it would shine light across the table. "I'm fine with doing that, I guess."

Adrien grinned. "And Alya?"

"We might need to look some stuff up once the internet comes back on and add it in, but it makes sense to do as much as we can."

The four of them lingered over dinner, taking their time before finishing up and leaving their dishes in a neat pile for the chef to take back downstairs. Alya, Marinette, and Nino all sent quick texts off to their families, letting them know that they would have to stay the night at Adrien's place, and then they tromped up the stairs to his room to finish their work, laptops under one arm and flashlights in the other hand. The lights bounced around the large room, corners illuminated one seconds and black the next.

Outside the windows, it was white.

"Yeah, we're not going anywhere until the streets are plowed," Nino commented as soon as they entered Adrien's room, making a beeline for the windows and peering out. His flashlight glinted off of the glass. "I don't think I've ever seen a storm this bad."

"If it weren't for the weather forecast predicting it, I would have thought that it was an akuma," Alya agreed, peering over Nino's shoulder. "At least we didn't get stuck at the library or something."

"Yeah, we get equipped with food, flashlights, and blankets here," Marinette said, nodding towards Adrien's bed. He turned to look, and sure enough- a whole _mountain_ of blankets had been piled on his bed, along with several pillows. Clearly the Gorilla had predicted what they would need and had already been by. "The heat might be off, but we'll be plenty cozy."

It didn't take long for them to get settled down with Alya's laptop and a few notebooks with their notes about the project. With a deadline- the computer battery wouldn't last forever, after all, and neither would the flashlights- the last few pieces fell into place quickly and they even got in a practice run of their presentation before Alya announced that she had to save everything and shut her computer down, or else risk it running too low on battery and turning itself off.

"Movie time!" Nino announced, stretching and cracking his back before settling back down in his seat. "I volunteer my laptop, since it has the largest screen. What movies do you have, Adrien?"

"Oh, everything," Adrien told him, grinning. "C'mon, I'll show you guys. I've got an _insane_ collection."

* * *

Gabriel was going slightly mad, he was sure of it. Trapped in the dark lair, no light at all- his phone had died after a series of only _slightly_ panicked texts to Nathalie- in the increasingly chilly space, he had no way out. Without electricity, the elevator wouldn't run. Without the elevator, there was no way to get back down into the main house, not unless he wanted to try to force the metal shutters on the window open, break the glass, and try to climb down.

He should have installed an emergency staircase after all. Nathalie had told him to, back when he had the elevator put in, but he hadn't wanted to do that. The more entrances there were, the more chances there were of someone (namely Adrien) accidentally stumbling across it and figuring him out. But he could have figured out some way to hide the stairs effectively enough that no one would notice a thing, surely.

Nooroo had returned an hour prior with the news that Nathalie had evidently gone home. Now the kwami was shivering somewhere on the floor of the lair, probably feeling as frozen as Gabriel.

This wouldn't have been a problem if- well if pretty much _anything_ had gone differently. If Nathalie hadn't gone home. If the staff had _done their jobs_ properly and thought to refill the generator on a regular basis, since it was being used frequently. If there had been an adequate akuma victim, even. Nathalie wouldn't have gone home then, and she would have thought of a solution to the problem.

But none of that had happened, and so Gabriel shivered.

And shivered, and shivered. His teeth chattered as he tried to will the electricity back into existence. His thoughts were becoming muddled and circling as he waited, trying not to let the dark get to him.

The dark would not bother him. He was stronger than the cold. He was a _supervillain_, and that _super_ meant that he should be better, less susceptible than the average person.

Except he wasn't transformed right now. That- _that_ could be fixed, and then he would be fine. Uncomfortable, maybe- he would have to sleep eventually unless he kept himself up by pacing the entire night, and the floor was _not_ comfortable- but fine.

"Nooroo!" Gabriel barked, uncovering his brooch. "Transform me!"

"But _Maste-_" Nooroo started, but his unbearable babbling was cut off as he was pulled into the pin and Gabriel transformed. He had one moment of triumph before unbearable cold gripped his bones, turning them to ice. Hawkmoth fell to his knees, gasping for breath and only finding the chilled winter air to fill his lungs. All thoughts were cut off as he hyperfocused on the one thing overwhelming his thoughts.

_Cold. Cold. Cold_.

_Freezing_.

* * *

The four teens had piled into a little nest of blankets and pillows on Adrien's couch, all snuggled together for warmth. While the storm windows had kept in most of the heat, the Agreste mansion was never kept _that_ warm to start with and it _had_ been several hours since the power shut off.

But they didn't care. The movie played on Nino's computer, set up in front of them on Adrien's coffee table, and the four of them were sitting close enough together that they could share body heat and stay toasty warm. The Gorilla had stuck his head in to check on them at one point, and had come back ten minutes later with two huge bowls of popcorn for them to share.

Apparently their gas-powered stove still worked, which was good. They could still make food, though they would probably have fewer options of what to cook with since some of the ingredients were likely to spoil after the fridges and freezers were out for several hours.

"I'd ask about another movie, but I am _exhausted_," Nino announced as their movie drew to a close. "And my computer is about to die, too."

"Time for bed, then?" Adrien suggested, leaning forward to collect the emptied popcorn bowls and setting them aside. "I _think_ I have enough extra pajamas, but they might be a bit big."

Marinette groaned, cuddling further into the blankets- and, coincidentally, into Adrien's side. "Don't wanna move."

Adrien laughed as he settled back down next to her. "Marinette, if you don't move now, you're never going to get up."

"_Ugh_."

"I'm gonna get ready while I still have the motivation to move," Nino announced. "So, what's the plan for sleeping?"

Adrien thought about it. Normally at a sleepover, everyone would probably have their own pajamas and toothbrushes and maybe even sleeping bags, but they didn't have that. People probably wouldn't want to sleep on the floor, so… "Could we all fit on my bed? It'll be warmer that way."

Marinette let out a quiet squeak, but didn't actually look opposed to the suggestion when Adrien glanced at her. Of course, it was kind of dark in the room, so it was _possible_ that he was reading her wrong.

"Sure, we could do that," Nino agreed, exchanging a glance with Alya. "And washing up? We could probably just do the old toothpaste on a finger trick if you tell us where to find it."

"No, no, I have plenty of toothbrushes! They're just in the cabinets under the sink," Adrien hastily assured them. "And I have combs under there, too. And my extra pajamas should be there, too."

"Righty-o." Nino extracted himself from the tangle of blankets, reaching for his flashlight and flicking it on. Shadows were thrown up the walls of Adrien's room, dancing as Nino wriggled out of the tangle of blankets. "Dibs on the bathroom. I'll be fast, promise."

Adrien nodded, settling back into the warmth of the blankets. He could tell how much his room had cooled down already, and suspected that it would be pretty chilly by morning. Having all four of them in a pile in his bed….

His inner cat purred at the thought. It would no doubt stay nice and cozy there, and none of them would want to get up in the morning.

As promised, Nino managed to be pretty fast. He was out of the bathroom in only a few minutes, freshly dressed in an extra pair of pajamas.

"I put out stuff for everyone else, too," Nino reported, his flashlight bobbing closer to the couch as he watched. "I figured that it would be faster that way, 'cause it was dumb luck that I found some of that stuff as quickly as I did."

"Sweet!" Alya hopped up next with flashlight in hand, accidentally jostling Marinette in the process. "I'm next!"

"You can go after her," Adrien told the half-asleep lump of blankets next to him. "And then I'll finish up?"

"Mmph."

"Same order in bed that we were on the couch?" Nino called over as his flashlight bobbed closer to the bed. "Does that sound all right?"

Adrien considered that. It would put him and Nino on the outside and Alya and Marinette in the middle. While it would probably be warmer in the middle, Adrien was fine with being on the outer edge. He always seemed to be running a little warmer than usual, and poor Marinette seemed to get chilled easily. "Sounds good to me!"

"I second that!" Alya called as she headed towards the bathroom. "I am _so_ glad that your room is so clean right now, Adrien, because I think my flashlight is getting dimmer and I hate it when I trip over stuff on the floor in the dark."

"We could trade," Nino offered from the bed. "Mine was still working pretty well."

"Eh, I'll survive. I'll be fast."

"Are you still with us, Mari?" Adrien asked in amusement as Alya's dim light headed into the bathroom and the lumpy blankets next to him leaned against him even more. "Just a few more minute, and then you can wash up. And _then_ you can sleep."

"Just wake her up when it's her turn," Nino suggested. His flashlight had been turned off, which suggested that he had gotten situated in bed. "Or wake her up now, and we can move all of the blankets over on the bed."

Adrien had honestly forgotten that that was something they had to do. "Are any of them left over there?"

"A couple." There was some shuffling around. "Like, three? But I'm pretty sure that we have six and some pillows over there."

"Right, I'll move them." Adrien wriggled his way out of the tangle of blankets, reaching back to give Marinette's shoulder a gentle shake. "C'mon, Marinette. Help me with these?"

Marinette grumbled some more, but eventually crawled out to help Adrien haul the blankets over to his bed and drape them across. One blanket stayed wrapped around her shoulders like a cape, warding off the chill. She tripped over it several times, but somehow managed to catch herself each time, only dropping the flashlight in her hand once.

Adrien wasn't sure how, really. She _looked_ really sleepy, which by all accounts meant that in theory she should have had slower reflexes. Adrien was glad that she wasn't wiping out on the floor, really, but he wished that _he_ had those reflexes when tired and fighting akuma.

"I'm out," Alya announced as the bathroom door opened and the dimming light of her flashlight appeared. "And just FYI for anyone who hadn't figured it out already, there isn't any hot water. It's all freezing cold."

Nino laughed at that. "Yeah, the boiler runs on electricity, presumably. Of course it's going to be cold."

"How large of an area do you think has been affected by the power outage?" Adrien asked as Marinette shuffled towards the bathroom. He snagged her blanket from her as she passed. "If there's more people, the company is more likely to respond sooner, right?"

"I think they have to wait for the storm to end no matter what," Nino told him as Alya clambered into bed. Her flashlight was nearly dead now, only casting a faint glow as she settled down. "And then yeah, they probably go for the areas with the largest outages first. But I bet that the Gorilla will probably go out and buy gas for the generator as soon as the streets have been cleared, so you'll probably get power back before the rest of the neighborhood."

"It's too bad we didn't get stuck at Marinette's house," Alya commented, switching her flashlight off and passing it to Nino to set on the ground alongside the bed. "Her family has a generator, too, because of the bakery. And I _know_ that they've been refilling it pretty regularly, because I heard Mr. Dupain talking about it last time I was over there."

Adrien frowned, puzzled. "Because of the bakery? What, are their ovens electric instead of gas?"

"No, dude, because of the fridges," Nino explained. "They have butter and eggs and milk and creams and everything in the fridges, and those have to stay cold or else get thrown out. And then if the power goes out in the morning, when they're mixing up the doughs, all of their mixers and rolling machines and everything would go out if they didn't have backup power."

"As you can probably tell, Nino has been in the proper _bakery_ part of the bakery," Alya told Adrien dryly. "The back kitchens. I've not been yet, mostly because there's never been a reason for me to be back there."

"It sounds interesting," Adrien commented. He had to admit that he was pretty curious. "So the generator goes up to the rest of the house too, then?"

"Yeah, but they're always careful to not use _too_ much electricity in the house, since people probably wouldn't notice if the generator went out during the night." Adrien heard more than saw Nino shrug. "That mostly means no TV or electronics, really. And turning lights off that they don't need. All common-sense stuff, really."

"And my parents always check the fuel level before going to bed," Marinette added, and Adrien jumped. He hadn't realized that she had come out of the bathroom. "Just in case. It would be _really_ expensive if the fridges went down and we had to throw stuff away."

"I'm surprised that your father doesn't do the same," Nino told Adrien. "That just seems like something he would be really strict about, you know?"

Adrien couldn't hold back the snort. "He's strict about _everything_, but I know what you mean. My guess is that he assumed that the staff would take care of it. I'd be surprised if someone doesn't get fired tomorrow." He glanced over at Marinette and grinned. His friend was _swamped_ by the pajamas. "I'm sorry I didn't have anything smaller, Marinette."

"This is fine," Marinette said through a yawn. She ambled towards the bed, the legs of the pajamas- folded up, but still long- dragging on the floor behind her as she walked. "They're comfy."

"Just don't trip," Adrien cautioned her as he picked up his flashlight again and headed for the bathroom. "I'll be right back!"

His bathroom looked so different shrouded in shadows. The flashlight threw odd shapes against the wall as Adrien washed up quickly, changing out of his day clothes and into pajamas. The water from the tap was _freezing_\- he was glad for Alya's warning, because Adrien totally would have tried to wash his face in the sink without thinking about it and ended up with a frozen nose. When he was nearly done, Plagg floated in.

"Oh, your cheese is going to spoil, isn't it?" Adrien realized as soon as he saw his kwami. "_Drat_. Sorry about that, I'll get more soon."

"There's not _that_ much left," Plagg told him. "And it can't spoil if I eat it!"

Adrien tried not to sigh at that. Plagg was impossible, he really was. "I suppose that's true."

"And I can get to it just fine, so no worries there," Plagg added. "It's not _ideal_ sitting somewhere cold and dark to eat, but your room is like that now too, isn't it?"

"It is, a bit," Adrien admitted. "Though there _is_ some light from outside and some lingering heat. There's not much of either, though."

Plagg gave him a sharp look. "Will you be okay?

"Aww, you _do_ care about me!" Adrien grinned at the disgruntled look on Plagg's face. "I knew it!"

"Look, kid, I was _trying_ to be nice-"

"I'll be fine," Adrien assured him, becoming more serious. He couldn't deny that he was a little bit worried, since the mansion _was_ large and always felt a bit on the chilly side even when the heat _was_ on, but if things got _really_ bad, maybe they could make it over to Marinette's place and stay there instead. The Gorilla wouldn't let them freeze. "We have flashlights, and between the four of us and all of the blankets that we have, we'll be warm enough. There's no way that we _won't_ be."

Plagg sniggered and zipped around Adrien's head as he started to brush his hair. "Uh-huh. You'll enjoy that, won't you? You'll be sleeping next to your _girlfriend_. Maybe you can even snuggle!"

"Just because Marinette said that she was in love with Chat Noir doesn't make her my _girlfriend_, Plagg," Adrien said with a sigh, pushing his hair back out of his face. It had turned messy now that it was knocked out of its normal style "I turned her down, remember? We're friends."

"Friends to lovers is the _best _trope, though! Isn't that what you said when you were reading fanfiction about that anime?"

Adrien chose not to dignify that with a response.

With the chill spurring him on, it didn't take long for Adrien to finish up in the bathroom and hurry back to the bed. Even breathing told him that someone had dropped off already, so he was careful not to jostle the bed too much as he crawled in next to Marinette.

"G'night, Adrien," Marinette murmured sleepily as he settled down and turned off his flashlight, plunging the room into darkness. Adrien smiled over at her, even though she wouldn't be able to see it.

"Good night, Marinette."

The wind howled outside and the snow continued to fall, but the bed was cozy and warm. Adrien snuggled in, pulling the blankets up high around his head.

This was the _best_ way to spend a cold night, it really was.

* * *

On top of the house, Hawkmoth was left in a huddled lump, shivering and spitting out curses whenever he could pull together his thoughts for long enough to vocalize anything at all. The floor was ice, the air not much better.

It truly was the _worst_ kind of place to be during a snowstorm, Hawkmoth decided during one of his few moments of clarity as he shivered and shook. No heat, no warmth, nothing at all. He was _freezing_ cold, and it would be dangerous to stop moving at all. But it would take so much energy.

_Do not sleep. Do not sleep. Do. Not._

..._sleep._

* * *

(The next morning, after an emergency order of gas was delivered and the generator was up and running again, Nathalie would find Gabriel on the floor of the lair, shivering and unresponsive. He had detransformed partway through the night after Nooroo's powers gave out, robbing him of his largest protection against the cold. Both man and kwami would get sick, Gabriel with a cold and other side effects from his brush with hypothermia, and Nooroo going down ill because of the long exposure to cold. It would be over a month until Hawkmoth attacked again as kwami and human recovered, time which Ladybug and Chat Noir would take advantage of to train and learn how to access and use some new powers, and Gabriel would never really recover all the feeling in his hands and feet.

But for now Hawkmoth slept uneasily, delirium from the cold dragging him under. Frost formed on the floor under his cheeks, moisture from his breath freezing only seconds after it left his lungs. Frostbite nipped at his fingertips, waiting for skin to be revealed and vulnerable to the cold once more.)

* * *

In Adrien's bedroom, cozy under three layers of blankets and with a stomach stuffed full of cheese, Plagg smirked as he nestled down under Adrien's pillow with Tikki. It probably sounded strange, since there was a round and a half of cheese left in the mini-fridge right now that could easily spoil before morning, but Plagg was rather pleased with himself at the moment.

The rest of the house would no doubt assume that the generator's fuel had run out naturally because of the frequent use during akuma attacks, which was partially true. It _had_ run low, but it had also been given a small helping hand to completely run out when it did.

Because Plagg had been sensing Nooroo in the house recently, on a _very_ frequent basis. Once he properly paid attention, it hadn't taken much to figure out that Adrien's father was Hawkmoth. The man clearly didn't care that he was endangering his own son with the akuma attacks, far too focused on his goals to mind. It had made Plagg _boil_ to bring him to justice.

But Ladybug and Chat Noir weren't ready to face off with Hawkmoth yet, and Adrien wasn't ready to deal with that kind of betrayal from his father. Even though it would be better for Paris if Hawkmoth was stopped immediately, Plagg knew from past experience that it was unwise to rush into major confrontations without being properly prepared. Doing such things tended to result in- well, supremely unpleasant things.

Still, there was nothing that said that Plagg couldn't mess with Hawkmoth in the meantime. When he had sensed the hidden elevator headed upwards in the middle of a snowstorm, Plagg had decided to jump on the opportunity to cause a little havoc and destroyed most of the remaining gas in the generator.

Hopefully Mr. Agreste knew how to deal with frostbite.

* * *

_A/N: As with most of my stories, this is a one-shot and is therefore complete. And as always, reviews make my day! :)_


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